Sustainable Microentrepreneurship: The Roles of Microfinance, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability in Reducing Poverty in Developing Countries

This paper examines the extent to which microfinance empowers entrepreneurship in least developed countries (LDCs), and whether these processes are economically and environmentally sustainable. It also analyzes case studies that suggest that microfinance and entrepreneurship reduce poverty in LDCs.

The paper states that the economic benefits of sustainable microentrepreneurship in LDCs are compelling, and its potential effects on the development process are equally promising. Conclusions include:

• Microfinance allows significant improvements in microentrepreneurs’ quality of life in LDCs;
• Microfinance allows microentrepreneurs to stabilize cash flows, bring security to the enterprise, better manage spending and generate savings;
• Increase in saving provides better standards of living to their family in terms of housing, nutrition, health and education;
• Access to banking and increased security promotes a sense of entrepreneurship and increases self-esteem;
• Microfinance helps to reintegrate entrepreneurs into the economy’s formal networks and fosters sustainable development of local communities.
• Microfinance and sustainable microentrepreneurship combine to offer a potential solution to the poverty crisis of the 21st century, despite several challenges.